Will my sanity survive the rest of Bush’s term in office?

Some would say no. Some would say it’s already too late. I wonder myself sometimes. Another day, another collection of odd articles in the news to comment on. Or an odd guy commenting on articles in the news I suppose. In no particular order, but eventually getting somewhere, today’s news and ramblings:

The US army is developing a giant robot teddy bear to evacuate the wounded from the battlefield. On the one hand, I suppose this is a good thing. On the other hand, gee, the Army has money to spend on incredibly expensive stuff like this, but then the wounded are sent to a vermin infested hospital where the government goes to great lengths to avoid spending money on their care? I think there’s some misplaced priorities here. I’m sorry, but this kind of insane spending for technological gadgets is what is wrong with the Army.

Apparently several thousand Turkish troops crossed into Iraq yesterday in pursuit of Kurdish Freedom fighters. The USA warned Turkey not to do this, and once again George’s bluff has been called. While the incursion is limited and not (yet) the whole scale intervention that had been feared, it may be a harbinger of things to come. It complicates and weakens the American presence in Iraq, and is another fine example of how occupying Iraq has limited America’s options and left us in a position where even our allies are taking advantage of our weakness.

Speaking of Iraq, the Iraqi parliament passed a law that if it goes into force will give the Iraqi government a say in whether the mandate allowing the US occupation of their country will be extended when it expires in six months. That could be interesting. In a similar vein, Iraqi oil workers have gone on strike protesting their working conditions and the fact that they are getting no say in the oil law that the US is pressuring the Maliki government to enact. This law, purported to fairly divide up Iraq’s oil, would be the most generous oil contract US companies have ever gotten in the Middle East. Some seventy percent of the profits from Iraqi oil would go to US companies. Well, if this oil law passes, we know then who really won the war.

There’s breaking news that the G8 nations have reached a compromise deal on global warming and CO2 emissions. It’s a good sign I suppose, though it may already be too late. In the past few weeks new reports are coming in that the Arctic, Greenland, and Antarctica are all warming much faster than the models can account for. In other words, it looks like global warming is proceeding faster than even the alarmists predicted. I can’t help but think that when the alarmists underestimated how bad things are, it means we’re really, really, hosed. On the other hand, it does seem to be lighting a fire under various world governments, so stay tuned.

There’s been major fighting in Sri Lanka, one of the world’s longest civil wars. Why they don’t just give the Tamil’s their independence is on the one hand baffling, on the other hand just normal for organized government. At some point sanity will prevail, since it should be clear to both sides that a military solution isn’t going to happen. Sri Lanka and it’s interminable civil war is sort of the world in a microcosm. I should be noted that this is an ethnic conflict, propaganda aside ethnicity, not religion, is the primary motivation for murdering your neighbours on this fine planet of ours. There’s also fighting in Lebanon and Gaza, same comments apply basically. I’m nearly 50 and wars seem as stupid now as when I was 13, am I missing something?

In media news the TV show Jericho has been uncancelled. In real life something worse than 911 is almost unthinkable, but watching it on TV helps. And in real life the USA told Iran that we would hold them responsible for another Al Qaeda attack on US soil. Since Al-Qaeda wants the US to attack Iran, isn’t this like waving a red flag in Al Qaeda’s face? And if we can’t prevent an Al-Qaeda attack on the US, how the hell is Iran supposed to? I find this a little worrisome, are we being set up for something? I have bad feelings about the rest of Bush’s term in office, I sure hope I’m being paranoid and stupid.

(The above image is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It is also claimed as public domain under US copyright law. It is not being used for profit, is central to illustrating the post, and is an historically important image. The original painting is titled “The Scream” and is by Edvard Munch 1863-1944)

6 Responses

I hear you, Doug. I blogged about the 2 debates this week, I was not impressed. I was interested enough to write the commentary though. I hope that US troops will leave Iraq soon. Petraeus will report to the President in September. Hopefully, he will be convinced that the troop surge is not working.The fighting should stop in Sri Lanka. If the government would try to negotiate with the Tamil Tigers, I think that would be a good step in the right direction.

And in real life the USA told Iran that we would hold them responsible for another Al Qaeda attack on US soil. Since Al-Qaeda wants the US to attack Iran, isn’t this like waving a red flag in Al Qaeda’s face? And if we can’t prevent an Al-Qaeda attack on the US, how the hell is Iran supposed to?

Its also worth mentioning that Iran and Al Queda are about as far apart on policy as Muslims can get. Iran is Persian and Shia while Al Queda is largely Arab and Sunni. Blaming Iran for Al Queda attacks would have been akin to blaming China for Soviet incursions and vice-versa. The only people in the world who hate bin Laden and Al Queda as much or more than we do is likely Iran … bin Laden and Khomeini are certainly NOT having tea together anytime soon. Linking the two like this just shows a complete lack of understanding of the complexity of Islamic belief.

I agree with elronsteele’s comments. Here I have just one disagreement with you Doug related to Kurds which to me are “terrorists” causing problems for Iran Turkey and Iraq. Any group who wants to divide country on ethnic background to me is “racist”. You don’t have to agree with me.

Doug you are not crazy,paranoid or missing anything. Negotiation in Sri Lanka would be great. One can sympathize that just giving Tamils independence might not end conflict though. One mans terrorist is anothers freedom fighter.PKK incursions into Turkey has led to this.Turkey under my “Sovereignty Matters” slogan is justified. I don’t think I have a dog in this fight but I do think the Kurdish people deserve to be a people.I’m one left looking at headlines and history and thinking the more things change…..You know the rest

Thanks for the comments, as usual they stimulated more thought and I will be blogging about such things as terrorists, ethnic strife, the Tamils, and the like as my time permits. I actually looked up the Tamils, they for all practical purposes invented the modern suicide bomber and suicide terror tactics. And they’re fighting to keep these people in their country? Yeesh. —Doug

Certainly hope you survive the rest of President Bush’s tenure! And many more besides.

Alan Keyes mentioned quite a while ago that we have gone down the road to tyranny some time back–alas, I’m afraid this is so–so no matter who is in charge in Washington, the answers to our problems won’t come from there. As Americans we need to look to ourselves for the solutions, and do what we can in the small circles of influence that we have. Put these many small circles together and we may turn it around–at least we have to try.

Welcome to Doug’s Darkworld

A blog about science, history, war, politics, current events, and just about anything that I find interesting. I post here once a week, this is primarily an archive of my older writings. My new blog is now on Patreon, join me there for more recent posts.

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